WilliamL. Watts

Addressing a U.S. Chamber of Commerce conference a day after President Bush unveiled an outline for a crackdown on corporate abuses, O'Neill said he was eager to work with Congress to complete new corporate accountability legislation before lawmakers leave town for their August recess.

He took aim, however, at provisions of a popular Democratic-backed Senate bill that would establish a new, independent oversight board to look over the work of the nation's accounting firms.

"This new 'accounting oversight board' would be redundant and competitive with the [Securities and Exchange Commission]. We do not need that kind of bureaucratic confusion undercutting enforcement efforts, and letting villains off the hook," O'Neill said in remarks prepared for delivery at the conference.

Democrats insist that an independent board is necessary to ensure corporate auditors that let companies cook their books are punished. The board would report to the SEC and would set its own standards.

O'Neill reiterated the administration's support for an SEC proposal that would see the agency form an accounting board that would set, oversee and enforce professional audit and ethics standards, while allowing the SEC to continue investigating and enforcing securities laws violations.

The wide-ranging Democratic bill is expected to see a vote as early as this week. In the wake of the string of corporate accounting scandals it's expected to pass the chamber with bipartisan support.

That would set up a conference with the Republican-controlled House, which passed a less far-reaching bill earlier this year.

O'Neill also criticized the Senate bill for not giving the SEC more authority to bar individuals who engage in serious misconduct from serving as officers and directors of any public company.

"The SEC needs this new authority to punish those that have proven themselves unworthy to serve shareholders," O'Neill said.

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said Democrats are willing to negotiate on details of an accounting board, but warned against measures that would substantially weaken the measure.

"We're more than willing to negotiate. If there's a better way to do it, we're willing to look at it. But we want it to be serious, not watered down, not simply another token approach to the real teeth we've got in the [Senate] bill today," he said.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said there is "95 percent" agreement between the administration and Senate lawmakers on corporate reform legislation.

"There are some real differences, but these are all bridgeable, in the president's opinion," Fleischer said.

O'Neill, a former CEO of aluminum giant Alcoa, also used the address to take dishonest corporate leaders to task.

"We've learned recently that certain corporate leaders, abetted by their auditors, violated the public's trust. In their greed and their gluttony, these crooks sacrificed the retirement years of teachers, truck drivers, nurses and farmers to enrich themselves," O'Neill said.

The Treasury secretary seconded much of the tough talk in Bush's Tuesday speech, repeating vows to ensure corporate wrongdoers end up in prison.

"I am furious. President Bush is furious. And we're going to make sure these thieves face consequences," O'Neill said. "These guys are not going to spend those stolen retirement years on balmy islands, swatting golf balls."

O'Neill also expressed confidence in the underlying fundamentals of the U.S. economy.

While second-quarter growth is unlikely to match the 6.1 percent pace seen in the first three months of the year, "there are continuing signs of strength in this recovery. New home sales set a record level in May, consumer spending remains high, and there is evidence that nondefense capital goods investment rose in the second quarter, ending nearly a year and a half of declines," he said.

The Treasury secretary said he still expected to see 3 to 3 1/2 percent growth by the end of the year.

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